


Of Birthmarks and Lost Parts

by attackonpufflehuff



Series: Birthmarks [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: (There will be other ships and characters, Alternate Universe - College/University, And I know who they are. I'm just not adding their tags until they show up) - Freeform, F/F, F/M, M/M, Reincarnation, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-06 23:56:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3153080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attackonpufflehuff/pseuds/attackonpufflehuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Birthmarks were supposed to be romantic. They said your soulmate would have a matching one, and that when you met said soulmate, it would glow and feel warm. So, romantic, right?</p><p>A unicorn. A god damn unicorn.</p><p>That was Jean's special symbol. He cursed his luck for it, wondering what sort of soul mate he would have if that was his birthmark.</p><p>How Jean gets dragged into this whole reincarnation nonsense, and begins his search for the man who always has meant the most to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Universities and People You Should Know

Birthmarks were supposed to be romantic. They said your soulmate would have a matching one, and that when you met said soulmate, it would glow and feel warm. So, romantic, right?

A unicorn. A god damn unicorn.

That was Jean's special symbol. He cursed his luck for it, wondering what sort of soul mate he would have if that was the birthmark.

Not that he was all that manly and tough himself, as an aspiring artist. His specialty seemed to be landscapes at the moment, with canvases and sketchbooks full of clear blue skies full of lines of colored smoke, a bloodstained forest floor, an unbelievably tall wall with beautiful little purple flowers scattered about the ground before it. Many were awed, both by his talent, and by the haunting beauty of them. Such works had only recently started being produced, just in his Senior year of high school, varying greatly from his former works. It was an improvement though, so he certainly never questioned it, especially as it won him a lot of praise--and scholarships.

And so, Jean did have his plate full with plenty of big decisions at the end of his final school year, and little time to worry about soulmates and unicorn birthmarks. And still he did somehow find the time to worry about such things, in between college applications and final exams. Little did he know, all of that would seem insignificant soon.

 _Bzzzt! Bzzzt!_ Jean's phone vibrated in signal of a phone call. It wasn't out of the ordinary--he'd received plenty of calls from schools asking him to make a decision or to wanting him to apply to their school. But this one was a little bit different.

"Th-The Survey Corps University! No way... they're... the best of the best!" It was his dream school, and they were calling him? It was beyond his wildest dreams, he had figured he would be lucky to even be considered. Quickly, he picked up the phone, sliding his finger across the screen to answer it. "H-Hello, Jean Kirschtein speaking." He said, his mouth suddenly dry as he tried to speak.

"Hello Mister Kirschtein. Or may I call you Jean?" The man spoke with a strong commanding voice of a leader.

"Uh, yes, sir, you may." Jean said, sounding more intimidated than he probably should have been.

"Okay Jean. My name is Erwin Smith. Oh, and you don't need to call me sir. Just Erwin will be fine."

"Yes sir! I-I mean... Erwin." Jean replied too quickly.

There was a heavy sigh on the other end before there was the sound of the phone being moved, and Erwin's voice, muffled, speaking to another. "Guys, I'm no good at this. I sound like the Commander, not some potential friend. You talk to him!" Jean furrowed his brows, confused by this. Was Erwin once in the military? And why would he want to come off as a friend. Another voice, more annoyed, and more muffled, spoke.

"Don't look at me. I'm not dealing with the brat!"

"He was part of your squad for some time you know." That was Erwin speaking again, and confusing Jean ever more than the man had done previously.

"Have the blond talk to him then. They were in the cadets together, right?" That was the annoyed sounding man again, but after a moment of shuffling, there was another, younger voice speaking to Jean.

"Jean?"

"Uh, hello?" Jean's voice showed his confusion.

"Hi, sorry about that. I'm Armin. Do you... know me at all?"

Jean was definitely confused. "No...? Should I?"

"It's okay Jean. I didn't expect you too. They were the ones with high hopes for the memories somehow being triggered randomly. I guess your paintings didn't help with that."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Armin did not explain further. "Does the name mean Mikasa mean anything to you Jean?"

"Mikasa?" Jean really didn't understand what was going on. "No."

"Damn it, I thought for sure it was the soulmate thing--and that Mikasa was your..." The other trailed off, so Jean tried to further the conversation, and to help Armin, though he wasn't sure how much he cared for this school and getting in anymore.

"I, uh... If you wanna know about my... soulmate... thing... Does a unicorn mean anything to you?"

"A unicorn? That's stran--" Armin sounded confused, but then stopped suddenly, "Wait like the Military Police? Is it like a profile of a unicorn's head?"

Jean scowled, but was somewhat impressed. "How do you know that?"

"Oh my god I had it all wrong. It's not Mikasa. It's--Jean, are you sitting down? This might be hard to take."

"What?" Jean didn't know what was going on, but he stopped his nervous pacing for a moment to sit down. "Uh, yeah."

"Marco." was all Armin said. But it was all he needed to say, as with that word, Jean was attacked with a barrage of memories, a strange foreign world, where people didn't have soul mate birthmarks, where man-eating giants called titans ruled the Earth, and Erwin and Armin were familiar names--hell, Jean even recognized the other voice on the line--Corporal Levi; it had to be him. Even more though, memories of Marco, Marco, Marco rang through his mind. Meeting him, plans to join the Military Police, always spouting words of encouragement, and worse, his death, his death, his god damn death! "Jean! Jean! Are you alright? Are you still there? Jean?" Armin's voice called to him from far away.

But all Jean heard was Marco's soft voice speaking to him gently. "Jean! We graduated in the top ten! We get to join the Military Police! We did it!" "You always seem to know what's right Jean." "Jean, you're not strong. So you understand how the weak feel." "Jean." "Jean." "Jean."

"Jean!" With Armin's shout, Jean suddenly came back to reality.

"Shiiiiiiit. Ughh." Jean was now more collapsed in the chair than he was actually sitting, and his head was throbbing.

"Are you okay?" Armin asked. "Do... do you remember now?"

"Yeah, I'll live. And yeah, sorry about that Arlert." How could Jean not have remembered? "I don't know how-"

"It's nothing to worry about. From what I get, it takes either the name or the sight of your soulmate to trigger the memories. So far it's always been someone we knew from that life, for us at least."

Jean chuckled. "So Erwin and Levi then? Who's your true love?"

"I-It's n-no one important!" Armin protested, stuttering.

Jean laughed even louder. "So is that all then? Just you three?" He had to ask.

"Unfortunately." Armin said, sounding a little sad. "Well, four of us now, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Jean agreed. It wasn't like he could abandon them now that he'd found them. "So does that mean that I've been accepted th--wait a minute! Am I joining the god damn Survey Corps again??"

Jean could hear loud laughter from the others as the phone was handed off to Erwin. "Yes Cadet Kirschtein, welcome to the Survey Corps!" The man teased. Jean groaned, but laughed along with them. He might pretend not to enjoy it, but he really appreciated the bunch of people he grew to care about in the Survey Corps.

If only Marco had been there too.


	2. Of Rivalrys and Science Fairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean discovers Armin's secret, and ends up tasked with trying to figure out how to trigger someone's memories... or at least get them to someone who can!

College wasn’t exactly all that Jean had expected. It was stealing up all of Jean’s time, leaving a lot less time for Marco hunting than Jean had hoped for. In fact, he had little time for any sort of socializing, other than with his roommate, which thankfully, was Armin. Fortunately, Armin was good enough entertainment most of the time…

“You know, you never did tell me about _your_ soulmate.” Jean said, smirking as he worked on a sketch for his anatomy class. When Armin didn’t respond, Jean added, “I mean, you know mine, so it’s only fair that I learn yours.”

“Like I said before… it’s nothing!” Armin said, burying his nose deeper into his book.

“Awww come on! I’m just curious. I won’t judge you, even if it’s Eren, or Annie.” After a pause, he amended his statement, remembering some unpleasant details about just whose 3DMG Annie had, “Okay, I’ll judge you for Annie. Maybe Eren too.” He teased, not at all serious. “But it’s not like they’re something you have to worry about anyway, so come on! Spill the beans!” When Jean looked up, Armin was further hidden in his book. “Oh my god.” Jean said, on the verge of laughter as he realized why Armin was so reluctant to tell him. “It is Eren, isn’t it?” When Armin didn’t answer, pouting into his book, Jean actually did laugh. “Did you really think I’d judge you for that?” Armin threw the book at Jean, who narrowly dodged it. “I mean, I know we used to fight a lot, but we both grew up, you know. Besides, I could hardly still hold a grudge over him anymore anyway.”

Armin finally spoke, peeking his head out of his book. “You mean that, right?” He asked, uncertain.

“Duh. We’re not friends or anything, so don’t go getting any ideas!” Jean teased, “But I can put up with him. But if he ever hurts you, then you come to me and I’ll kick his ass, ‘kay?”

It was starting to get so serious, then it took that turn. Armin rolled his eyes as Jean, who stuck his tongue out in return before the two of them went back to work, chit chatting about whatever else they could think of.

———

Of course, having a super smart, older (how come Armin had ended up being older than him anyway?) dorm mate, didn’t help Jean’s grades much when Armin refused to give him the answers. Apparently “that isn’t helping, it’s cheating.” What did it matter if Jean cheated on his GenEd classes, wasn’t it the classes that were actually part of his major that he had to do himself? Regardless, Jean’s general suckiness at classes that weren’t art related was starting to drown him. And that meant that if Jean was going to pass all of his classes, he would have to sacrifice his only free time, his weekends, towards extra credit.

And that was how Jean found himself helping some snooty private high school set up displays for a science competition. Apparently the University held one every year to scout out the brightest minds. Three high school students would be award scholarships to the school based on this—it was like a science fair on crack.

And of course, the school that Jean had gotten assigned to when he volunteered to help with this event for extra credit in Biology, Ridgeford, was apparently the kind of school where the teacher was too lazy to help, and the students too privileged—hence Jean’s “help” ended up being doing all the work of setting up these student’s displays. Only the promised reward of extra credit kept Jean going…

 _Thud!_ “OW! Hahaha, oops!”

“Shit!” The sudden disturbance caused Jean to drop a box on his foot. After retrieving his own dropped package, Jean’s instincts told him to go help the woman who had caused the disturbance. Running off away from where he was supposed to be setting up displays before the supervising teacher could stop him, Jean aided the woman in picking up the boxes she had dropped, way more than what was probably safe for one person to be carrying. It wasn’t until they had picked up all of the boxes that Jean actually got a look at the bespectacled woman who had caused this mess.

 _No way..._  was his first thought.  _Why me?_ was his second.

“Thanks!” She said with a grin from behind her own stack of boxes.

“No problem. Where are you headed with these?” He asked, struggling a bit under the weight—he wasn’t exactly in Military Police quality shape in this world.

“Right over there.” She said, nodding towards where Jean had came from, then heading that way. Jean followed her, pleasantly surprised to see she was helping the same school as he was. It would give him more time to interact with her while he figured out what the hell he should do! Both of them setting down heavy stacks of boxes, the woman turned to Jean. “Sorry about that, and sorry I’m late! I’m Hange Zoe, Ridgeford High’s Science Department Student Teacher!”

It took everything in Jean not to say ‘I know.’ when she introduced herself, only barely restraining himself from acting on instinct. “I’m Jean Kirschtein. Pleasure to meet you Miss Zoe.” He said instead, introducing himself politely, thinking it weird to be calling her Miss Zoe rather than Squad Leader Hange.

“Oh please, call me Hange!” She insisted, solving that problem as soon as it popped up. “So you must be the student volunteer, right? From the school? I’m so jealous, I wish I could have afforded to go here! My school wouldn’t even pay to take us to the Competition so I could win a scholarship.” That she was interested in the school did not shock Jean. It was the leader in all sorts of science fields, not to mention, he suspected that her past life might have drawn her here just based on the name, even if it was subconscious. “So what are you studying? Some kind of Engineering? Inorganic Chemistry? Physics?” She grew more excited with each potential major she listed, to the point where Jean really didn’t want to let her down by telling her the truth, though he knew he would have to.

“Uh, Art, with a focus on Illustration…” He admitted. This did not drench her fire at all.

“Oh, an artist! How exciting! I’ve got no talent when it comes to that stuff, so that’s why I stick to facts and science! Still, you’re pretty lucky to get to go to such a great school! I’m glad I got to see it at least once.”

She seemed really obsessed with the school… Was this Jean’s chance, to get Hange to Erwin or Levi so that they could trigger her memories? “Pffft, you can hardly call seeing a few buildings from outside ‘seeing it at least once.’ You oughta check out the rest of the place, it’s gorgeous.

She smiled sadly. “I’d love to, but I can’t afford to come back down here on my own.”

 _Whatever,_ he thought, _The sooner the better anyway._ Besides, this was also his chance to get away from these idiot kids. “Why not now? I know the guy who runs this place, I know he wouldn’t mind if I gave you a quick tour…” He offered.

“You really think so? But-but wait… the kids, we still have to help them.” She reminded him, her hopes rising and falling like waves.

Jean shrugged. “We already did a lot, let them handle the rest.” He then lowered his voice, “Besides, no offense, but I don’t think those kids have any chance at winning.” It was true, most of the projects were either amateur, or obviously not created by the student. To Jean’s surprise, Hange laughed.

“Damn spoiled rich kids. You’re right but…” She looked back and forth between the students and the buildings around her, between her duty, and her dream… And in the end. “Okay, but quick, all right?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fast.” Jean reassured her, wondering how truthful he was being as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

[TEXT: Commander Erwin]  
I have Hange, I don’t think she remembers. I’m “giving her a tour” and heading towards your building. Intercept us in the hallways?  
[MESSAGE SENT]

No sooner had he put his phone in his pocket, than it began vibrating to inform him of a received text.

[TEXT: Commander Erwin]  
Excellent. I will see you there.  
[MESSAGE RECEIVED]

Jean sighed as he put his phone back in his pocket, leading Hange idly towards where he knew they would find Erwin. _Why me?_ He wondered. _Why did it have to be the guy who doesn’t know Hange that well to find her…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter THREE SEPARATE TIMES. Sorry if it's shit, it was annoying to have to write it twice, but rewriting it again after that was just painful. I would write the chapter, save it, start on the next chapter and do some stuff then my system would crash, and somehow, my entire fic would be gone. I guess that's a problem that ZenWriter tends to have, if your system crashes, according to a couple other people on the internet. So I bought Scrivener, which I really like so far! Anyway, updates should come a lot faster, now that I'm not struggling with a laptop that crashes anytime I use it more than a half hour (I swear, that was what it was doing or something. It seemed to have fixed whatever made it crash though, so that's good...) or a program the decides to delete the entire document you were working on if your system crashes/


	3. Of Families and Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A girl and her brother sit in their shared room, each doing their own thing. She is on a mission to find the family that she never knew.
> 
> Meanwhile, awkwardness ensues with Hange.

A girl and her brother sat in their shared room. The boy, on his bed, was reading a Teen Titans comic, while the girl was on the computer in the corner of the room.

“I’m not trying to be mean, but do you really think you have family out there? I mean, you’ve been searching for so long and—” The boy started, but was interrupted by the girl.

“I’m sure.” She replied, her wavering voice saying otherwise. “I can’t give up now. Something in me… something in me knows that there should be someone out there…”

The boy merely shrugged, knowing better than to pick a fight with his sister. “If you say so…”

———

“So, uh…” Jean started as they walked, trying to make conversation, Hange’s uncharacteristic silence bothering him. “What do you know about the whole… soulmate thing?” Now that he knew what he knew now, he was definitely a lot more interested in how it all worked. He didn’t know much, to be honest, but he was willing to bet it would be the sort of thing that Hange was interested in.

And apparently, it was. “Oh, nothing much more than what’s common knowledge! You know, when you come near the person it causes a reaction in your brain that signals the mark to glow and feel warm. No one knows how it knows when your soulmate is nearby, which is what makes it so mysterious. I’d love to be able to research it though, wouldn’t it just be fascinating!” She said, losing herself in her thoughts for a moment.

Jean decided to ask something else, just from curiosity. “Have you ever heard of people remembering past lives after meeting their soulmate?” He wanted to know if this was something that commonly happened, or if it was just with their little group.

“Past lives? No, I’ve never heard of that! But I suppose it would be possible. I mean, if you met your soulmate in your past life, it would make sense for them to trigger memories of your past life, right? Assuming reincarnation actually exists, that is.” She said thoughtfully, sounding just as curious he was. “Why, did it happen to you?” She teased, though she seemed to genuinely want to know.

He didn’t want to say yes, knowing how crazy it sounded when one didn’t know, but didn’t want to lie either, knowing she would probably be learning soon enough. The way he worded his question gave him an out though. “I haven’t met my soulmate yet.” He said, rubbing at the mark on his wrist without realizing he was doing so.

“Me either!” She said, sounding more cheerful than she probably should have been. “I’m kinda nervous to meet him or her…” She added ashamedly.

“I don’t blame you. I used to be nervous too. But I’m sure you’ll be fine when you meet whomever it is.” Jean said, speaking honestly. He really had been kind of anxious regarding his soulmate, but now that he knew it would be Marco… He knew he would be fine. And he was sure Hange would be no different.

“You really think so?” She said as they turned the corner to head up the path toward the building where Jean knew Erwin would be waiting for them.

“I’m certain.” He held the door open for her, watching her enter. “There’s not much special here, it’s just the administrative building, where Levi and Erwin and others usually are during the day.” He told her.

That was special enough for her. “Erwin, he’s the head of the school, right? Oh, wouldn’t it be cool if I got to meet him?” Jean couldn’t help laughing at the irony, merely nodding in response. Almost as if on cue, Erwin stepped out of his office. “Oh my god.” Hange whispered. “That’s him, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Jean said quietly.

“Hello.” Erwin greeted the two, seeing them there. “My name is Erwin, who might you be ma’am?”

Hange almost seemed to freeze a moment, before offering her hand. “I’m Hange. Uh, Hange Zoe. It’s a real honor to meet you sir!”

Erwin shook it, raising an eyebrow. “Hange, maybe I speak to you for a moment?” He said, getting straight to the point.

“Oh, uh, sure!” She replied quickly, seeming surprised, but excited. She started to step into his office as he gestured that way, and Jean started to step away, but apparently, that was not a part of Erwin’s plan.

“Jean.” Erwin said, and Jean looked back at him. “You come in too.” Jean didn’t see why he had to be there, but didn’t argue, obeying the order and following Hange into the room. Erwin shut the door behind them as they sat in comfortable chairs in front of a large wooden desk. In the corner of the room sat Levi, looking more annoyed than usual. Once they were all seated, Erwin spoke. Or, tried to.“Well, uh…” Erwin seemed lost, uncertain of how to go about this. “The thing is, well…”

Apparently Levi would have none of that, wanting to get straight to it, rather than putting it pleasantly. Getting out of hi chair, he strode over toward Hange.

“Levi, what are you—”

Grabbing her chin and getting close in her face, Levi spoke quietly. “It’s Moblit. So _remember_ , Shitty Glasses.”

“Wha?” She started, before her eyes grew wide and she leaned back in her chair as Levi let go of her.

After a moment of silence while Hange was taking in her memories, Erwin spoke. “Levi, I thought we had decided we needed to handle this delicately.”

“We were getting nowhere with that.” Levi replied flatly. Jean couldn’t argue with that, and apparently, neither could Erwin, who didn't reply. It was one thing to say they were going to handle it delicately, but it had seemed they had no plan as to how they actually going to do it. They were all new to this whole situation, so he could hardly blame either of them for not knowing how to handle it.

Erwin sighed and leaned back in his chair. Jean stared awkwardly at Hange, wondering why he was even here.

Hange looked up suddenly, coming back to herself. “Oh. My. God.” Looking over at Jean, she immediately hit him. “You knew! Why didn’t you just tell me! You jerk!”

“You probably would have thought I was crazy!” Jean replied, defensive.

She laughed. “You’re right! I would have thought you were nuts! Walls, and Levi and Erwin too! Oh gosh, come here you two!” She said, getting up to grab the other two and pull them into a crushing hug.

Jean rolled his eyes, wanting to just go. As if sensing that, as soon as Hange released him and Levi, Erwin said to him, “Why don’t you inform Armin.” Jean nodded and stood.

“Armin, Armin… He’s the blond that always hung around Eren, right?” Hange said, and Jean snickered. “A genius that kid was. Or ‘is’? Oh and Jean?” She stopped him just before he had exited, and he turned back to face her. “Thank you.”

Jean grinned. “It’s not like I could have met you and let you go. Those two woulda killed me if they found out.” Both laughed, then Jean walked out.

———

Another day, a girl and her brother sat in their shared room. Again, the boy, on his bed, was reading another Teen Titans comic, while the girl was on the computer in the corner of the room.

“Still looking?” He asked her, already knowing the answer. “I don’t see why our family isn’t enough for you?”

“It’s not like that.” She answered softly, then, her voice growing angry. “I just want answers. As in why I was just abandoned after both my parents were dead. I know I had family who could have taken me. I’m sure of it.” The boy shrugged. “Besides, I think I might be onto something.”

“What’s that?” The boy asked, sitting up and peering over.

“Well, before, I was always looking for my mom’s family, because my dad always seemed to… act like he didn’t have a family. But when I looked up my family name…”

“You found someone?” The boy practically jumped up, running over to the computer to see.

“The son of some famous CEO… Now he works at a school not too far from here. We have the same last name, and there are sites saying he had a brother named James.” She said, shrugged and looking over at her brother.

“Are you going to contact him?” He asked.

“Don’t ask stupid questions Eren.” She said flatly. Picking up her phone from the table, she typed in a phone number she had found on the school’s website that was supposed to belong to this man. Her hand was shaking with anxiety. Finally she pressed the call button.

“You okay Mikasa?” Eren asked, only to be shushed by her.

"Hello?" A bored voice answered the phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeee another chapter! This fic is actually getting more people reading than I expected! This makes me feel pretty special. Thank you to everyone who has read, left kudos, bookmarked, or commented. It means a lot to me! The next chapter should be coming soon!


	4. Of Phone Calls and Falsehoods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi receives an important phone call.

As much as Levi didn’t like talking on the phone to strangers, it is something he has to do from time to time. So when his phone rang, the caller ID showing an unfamiliar local number, he merely sighed and answered it. "Hello?" He spoke in a bored voice.

"Is this Levi Ackerman?" A young woman spoke.

He knew this voice. He was certain that he knew this voice. "Mikasa?" He said in a questioning tone. How had she found him? Had she already found her soulmate and remembered and somehow found him?

"How do you know who I am? Did you know about me all along and did nothing?" She said angrily. Okay, so apparently she didn’t know? This was confusing.

"Slow down brat, what the hell are you talking about? I thought you were... well never mind that, I don't know you." He answered her, trying to play it safe until he figured out what was up with her.

"But you knew my name." She replied, as if that was all that mattered.

"Yes, because you sound like you were someone I knew." It wasn’t entirely a lie, right? He knew Mikasa then, he didn’t know this Mikasa now. Not really.

"Someone who has my name?" She obviously didn’t believe him. He didn’t blame her.

"Yes."

"That sounds like bull shit."

He sighed, deciding to move past that. "What do you want brat?"

"You're my uncle." She said bluntly.

He was genuinely surprised. He only had had one sibling, a brother, so he could only assume… "James had a kid?"

"You didn't know?" It was her turn to be surprised now.

"I haven't talked to him in a good twenty years." Levi’s brother had pretty much cut off all ties with the rest of the family, whom he had never been close with in the first place, after moving who knew where to marry his sweetheart.

"Oh... He's dead." She replied, hesitant and sad.

"That's... too bad."

"That's all you have to say?" She seemed uncertain on whether she wanted to be angry.

"We weren't close.” Levi didn’t know what to say, especially regarding a brother he hardly knew. Not to mention his previous life had conditioned him to accept death a bit better than most. “So you live with your mother?"

"No she's dead too." She said with no emotion.

Levi’s eyes widened and he leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his undercut, as he started to become concerned for the girl. "Well shit. Do you have somewhere to go?"

"My parents died a long time ago. I have new family now, their name is Jaeger." She told him, and he let out a sigh of relief, though both annoyed and glad to hear the name Jaeger.

"Oh, great." He muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked defensively.

"Nothing. You'll understand eventually." He didn’t want to explain things to her just yet. She was silent for a while before Levi decided to address the elephant in the room. "Anyway, I suppose you were calling me to confront me for not taking you before you ended up in an orphanage, right?" He said, relaxing in his chair.

"Something like that." She replied, sounding amused.

"Well, trust me, if I had had any idea you were out there, I would have found you as soon as I could. Regardless of whether your parents were alive." He knew it was odd wording, but it works. Realizing he might be making a huge mistake, he quickly added, "So, before I make a fool of myself, do the Jaegers have another kid besides you?"

"Yeah, a boy my age, Eren."

He lets out another sigh of both relief and annoyance. "Great. Well, I'd love to meet you and your family, and I'm sure my Erwin will be thrilled to hear about you."

"Really?” She seemed surprised to hear this. He supposed, after so many years of not even knowing he existed, he couldn’t blame her for expecting him to be distant. “I mean, I guess we could arrange... maybe a visit tomorrow? For lunch or something? Since it's Saturday, I figure you guys won't have work, right?"

It seemed soon, but he figured she too is probably busy. And since he had no plans for the next day, he figured it would be best to do ot on a day he knew they were both free. "Tomorrow would be fine, how does 11 sound?"

"Uh, fine, I guess." She sounded surprised to hear him accept as well. Did she really expect so little from him?

"Good, go ahead and text me your address when I hang up. Oh, and Mikasa?"

"Hm?"

"These two brats I look after, Armin and Jean,” He figured that was the best way to put it, “They probably know your Eren, is it all right if I bring them?"

"I guess." She didn’t seem to care.

"Good. If you tell Eren, be careful." He warned her. He knew she probably wouldn’t be well suited to deal with Eren getting his memories back. He would leave that job to Armin, if he could avoid it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She questioned. But Levi felt that he’d rather not have to explain.

"You'll understand eventually."

"You keep saying that." She said exasperatedly, annoyed. She had every right to be, but he didn’t feel like explaining shit to her, niece or not.

"I mean it." He told her with enough feeling that she decided to accept it, before hanging up on her. After getting the location from her, he sent out a text to Armin, Jean and Erwin.

[TEXT: Erwin, Blondie, Horseface]  
Family road trip to Eren and Mikasa’s house tomorrow at eleven. Be ready by ten-thirty.  
[MESSAGE SENT]

If they couldn’t read the sarcasm in that first sentence, then they didn’t know him, but of course, they did. Reactions ranged from excitement to annoyance at how soon this was forced upon them, though really, it seemed to be a mixture of both from all of them. Levi didn’t particularly care, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible anyway. And when it came down to it, all three showed up on time, so that was what mattered, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa. 2 Chapters in less than 24 hours? Insanity! Don't expect to be so luck in the future! ;) Anyway we're on our way to meeting Mikasa and Eren! How exciting, right? Or maybe it'll be a mess, knowing them. I'll leave you with that.

**Author's Note:**

> And it had begun! I got over 36 thousand words into my NaNoWriMo version of this fic before I decided I wanted to change some things and rewrite, so this time I'm actually getting up the guts to post it somewhere! I'm a fast writer, so expect quick updates. (32 thousand of those 36 thousand words for NaNoWriMo were done within the time range of November 14-30, because I started waaaay late). Check out my tumblr though. My fic page for this fic has a full list of pairings that will be happening in this work at pufflehuffprefect.tumblr.com/fic:birthmarks and my tumblr will be updated with important stuff regarding the fic.


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